Chapter 1. Awake."Milady.."
"Milady… please wake up!!"
"That sound, who is that? Stop calling, I am not your sama, please stop calling, I just want to sleep." Yilas thought.
..
..
"Milady... I can"t bear to see you like this if you can hear me. Please wake up.."
"Ughhh... That one again, I said leave me alone, I"m just so tired, leave me be." She thought so again.
This time she can feel a hand in my hand, a warm, big, rough hand. It is holding her hand so gently, yet persistently.
"I could not see anything, maybe I am still dreaming"- Yilas told herself.
Yilas could faintly smell the scent of gra.s.s, of the rain just pa.s.sing. She could hear faint breathing near her, it was calming her down, whose breathing was it? It was definitely a human"s breath. She could just feel it.
Oh right! Must be her mom. She was always by Yilas bed when she was ill.
Huh? When she was ill? That"s right, Yilas body had never been kind to her, it always got sick easily, always since she was little.
"It is a miracle for her to live until now" Yilas remembered someone in her relatives said that. And then her mom would start telling them off. She had always been so protective of Yilas, her only daughter.
Yilas saw her mother cry countless times in front of her and also behind her back. But she is the most determined woman Yilas had ever seen, she never gave up on her, even though her illness lasted for 17 years.
Right... Yilas was in the hospital because of Leukemias. She was in treatment ever since she could remember but somehow this s.p.a.ce was unfamiliar. She had never smelled this rain smell so strong, or the scent of gra.s.s that strong.
Yilas had always been on the fifth floor of the hospital, she rarely gets to go to the garden downstairs. But the smell was so strong that it feels like it is right next to her left.
"Hold on, isn"t Yilas bed always on the right?" Her mom has always asked to be in the room where her bedroom window was placed on her right.
That same room she hated so much.
That was strange indeed!
"Now that I am awake anyway, let"s get up"- Yilas thought.
Yilas turned her head a little. Why was her body aching to this extent? She had never been able to exercise this hard to be familiar with body soreness.
She opened her mouth. So thirsty. Her mouth was dry.
"Mom.." Yilas mumbled "water" that was all she could utter out of her mouth.
Nothing.
"What?? Wake up, mom. Hand me some water please, I"m so sore, I can"t move." Yilas screamed in her heart.
"water .." and still nothing. Her mom must be deep asleep, or Yilas whisper was just too faint.
Yilas gathered all her strength at the arms and pushed herself up. And she did.
"Milady.. you .. you.." There was somebody saying that next to her.
And then that person suddenly hugged Yilas, squeezed her tight. Even though it hurts to be hugged, it still feels nice and warm. Such big arms are around her and this person smelled like medicine and wood.
"AAAhhh… it hurts" Yilas finally come to her senses because of the pain.
"Milady please excuse my behavior... I am overwhelmed with joy since I can finally see you awake again." He was a man. His voice was not too deep, but manly still, filled with warmth but you could tell it"s a young man"s voice. He held her shoulders with his hands but moved his body away from hers.
"Water.."
"Here.." he brought a cup to her mouth.
Ahh.. how refreshing. Yilas could finally breathe again.
"Thanks. But can you get my mom? Where is she?"
Silence.
"Milady... Your mother died years ago.."
Yilas was confused and shocked. "What? Wait.. who? This person must be joking" she thought.
"You are joking right? .. Call my mom, please. This isn"t funny"
silence, again.
"Hey.. hey… where did you go?" Yilas turned her head from side to side but all she saw was darkness. It must be night time.
"I am right here.." he reached out his hand to touch hers. It was out of nowhere so Yilas just pulled her hand back.
"You just scared the heck out of me... What are you doing in the dark, at least turn the light on."
"Milady... Please calm down... I am saying the truth." he sighed "please don"t be upset"
He said it in such a soft, gentle voice. Like he was pitying her, and also worried. Yilas observed a lot of this type of reaction in her time, she could just tell by the slightest tone changes in their voice.
"Fine.. can you at least turn the light on. I can"t see in the dark" Yilas sighed "who are you?"
"Milady, you can"t see because it"s your eyes. Not because it is dark right now" there he goes with the pitiful tone again.
"When I found you your eyes were already in severe condition, I tried looking for a doctor but they said they can"t do anything since the cut is too deep."
"It was all my fault, milady if only I was there sooner... I will gouge out my eyes for you." he went from sad to angry in just a second.
"Wait.. wait.. What are you saying..who are you?"
"It"s me Viosus... Your loyal servant .. have you not recognize my voice" Yilas had never heard of your name in her lifetime. How can she forget you? The number of men she knew in her life could be counted on one hand and 3 of them were her doctors.
"I am in a strange room, with a strange man, and I can"t even see anything. I need to be wise about my next move. Or else…" Yilas told herself.
"It seems that I have some injuries on my head.. I can"t seem to remember anything.
Viosus right? Can you please tell me what happened"
"Your eyes were the only thing injured badly, milady, I already checked everything with the doctor.
But you have been asleep for a few days... So maybe we missed something" he ended up mumbling the rest in his mouth. And then Viosus continued.
"It was the end of the full moon when I set out with the servant to hunt in the East forest. 2 days in and little crow I have watched the house come flying bearing bad news. Little crow said the main house was attacked and everybody either ran into the mountain behind our house or was captured by the Wild Boar clan"s man.
We came running as fast as we could, but the boars were already gone, the house was empty. Little Crow said Milady and some female servants ran up the mountain so we followed the trail. And after another half a day, we finally find you by the creek. You got caught by one of the rocks so luckily you did not follow the stream any further"
"What a strange situation, what was with a strange clan attacking? And why were they hunting, was there no supermarket around?" Yilas guessed since he did say mountains and forests so maybe this was a secluded place.
"Milady, I brought you back to the house myself as soon my feet can run. And called for the doctor but they said there is nothing to be done with your eyes," he said it so heartbroken like his throat was choking up on his own words.
Yilas suddenly felt he sounded like her mom when she said the doctors gave her a 3 months notice. When Yilas started her treatment, she bargained with her mom to tell her everything the doctor said, or else she would not go to the hospital anymore. Her mom agreed because Yilas was fake coughing so loud for a whole week. What a bratty child Yilas was!
Yilas reached out her hand towards his voice to comfort him. When she was in pain, all she wanted was a simple consort of touch.
Words have no meaning in that sense to her, as long as mom was there to hold her hand, brush her fingers on her cheeks, gently ma.s.saging her arms and legs,... That was all Yilas needed to keep on fighting.
Yilas touched what seemed like his hair. He was burying his face in the bedside. She moved her hand in a circle, gently patting his head. Until she touched something like a hard, yet squishy, foldable piece of skin, but harder than skin. It was like the dog ears she used to sneak out to pet every other day since its owner ran past the hospital entrance to exercise.
"Good boy" Yilas uttered those words out without thinking.
"Oh.. I am sorry... I didn"t mean to call you that, it is just a habit of touch your dog"s ears"
"You have not called me that since we were little, milady."
Yilas could sense his mood plummeted.
"I did nothing to earn your praise. I was utterly too slow that my feet are worth cutting off."
"Don"t keep saying those vile words. And don"t blame yourself, it was nothing you could have done... Didn"t you say you bring me back? You saved my life didn"t you?" Yilas gently smiled a little to lighten the mood. If he gets upset and leaves, how can she get more information out of him?
"But I was just talking to the dog I touched right here" her hand continued to caress its head and ears.
"It is Viosus you"re touching, milady, it"s me." he took her wrist and moved it down to his face.
It was a human face, she could feel his cheek, his nose, his eyebrows, his lips. His face is quite warm but it was indeed a human face. He must be wearing some sort of headband if his ears were still here. Yilas moved her hand to the side where the ears located and nothing was there, just his hair.
Yilas got a good scare, she suddenly took back her hand like she was horrified for touching such a thing. What kind of animal is this, it speaks, it has arms and human face but dog"s ears?
"What… what.. What exactly are you?" Yilas could feel herself trembling.
"Milady please don"t be scared, I know it must be strange to not be able to see but it is really me Viousus" he got closer to her and grabbed her hand to touch his face again.
"See?? I have always been your favorite fox, remembered?"
"But... But why are your ears on the top of your head?"
"It takes a lot of energy to stay in the complete civil form. Normally it was already hard for me to do since I am so dumb when using energy and I have never left your side since I brought you back here so my body is stiff.
But Milady always said I look cuter in my incomplete form anyway. I was never as good as you in transformation energy, Milady."
"Civil form you mean human-like form?"
"Human? What is that Milady, I have never heard of such animal"
"Oh no my head, how can you don"t know what a human is? I am a human! But wait, I can"t say that, it might reveal myself to be strange." Yilas thought she had better not do anything rash.
"If you are a fox then what am I?" Yilas wondered.
"You are a fox Milady, the head of our fox clan of course" but in her memory, a fox never stays in a pack, especially when it hunts.
"How come I am the head of the clan?"
"Well your father was head of the clan before you but he just pa.s.sed so it is naturally you who becomes the head until you mate and have one of your mates lead the clan."
"I don"t want anything like that clan leader, can you do it since you are a man?"
"Of course not! The only way to become a clan head is to fight to the death with the present clan head. I was picked up by the master when I was just a little cub and I am weaker than him so I never think of it that way. We all loved master and you milady, we are no rebels so we just stay and live with you and the old master and help around the house.
Our clan was never big or an official clan. All the animals that lived here were rescued by the Master. He loved all animals, he can never see life in danger and not helped.
We all loved the old Master deeply"
He sounded like a kind person, this Master.
"And since the Master died peacefully, you took over his role. A male can"t fight a female let alone me hurting a strand of hair on you Milady. So the only possible way is for me and you to…"
"To what?" Yilas quickly asked as soon as Viosus hesitated.
"Mate.." he mumbled quietly through his teeth.
"What did you say?" Yilas asked again since she couldn"t make up what he just whispered.
"Mate with you, milady," he said it louder but still in his embarra.s.sed voice.
"HAHA.. to mate you mean like…" She suddenly realized what she was saying. Yilas could feel her face getting hotter and hotter by the second.
Minutes pa.s.sed by and still, nothing came out of Yilas mouth nor Viosus"s mouth.
*growl* a loud noise came out of Yilas stomach.
"Right! I will get you some food now Milady!" with that Viosus hurried and left the room. Leaving her alone so she lay down again.
What a strange place, Yilas thought to herself.
But what a pity that she couldn"t see anything, all seemed pitched black, she had never felt like this before. So lonely she felt.
Yilas unconsciously touched her face, beside the eyes were wrapped up in some big soft leaves bound together like a cloth, there were cotton flowers directly in between her eyes and the wrap.
This was a human face, small slender face but the cheeks were full. Just from touching the skin, you can tell this girl"s body was young, her chin was small and so was the lips, even though they are quite slender and adorable. Her forehead was about 3 fingers width, it was definitely a teenage girl"s face.
Her ears are just human ears though, why was it different from Viosus"s.
Right, his face was skinny, Yilas could feel his jaw was strong even though he had such a small face. He had long fluffy yet silky hair, they were so nice to the touch. His eyes were long and not too big, his nose was tall and straight like a prideful European, his lips were so soft and she felt his breath on her finger when they talked.
Yilas just touched a man"s face. She had never done that before in her life. Her heart couldn"t stop beating like crazy thinking about it. "I was only because I can"t see, I can only imagine what he looked like in my head by touching."
"There was no other way!!"- Yilas made an excuse to calm herself down.
But he was such a beautiful man she was sure, so elegant and gentle looking. And his voice was warm and kind, it fitted perfectly with his appearance.
Both of her hands covered her face unconsciously. Yilas must have no shame in herself. How can her heartbeat like that for a man she just met? She felt so embarra.s.sed, how can she face him again?